Life Of Benjamin Franklin: Footnote 45

The operations of Dr. Evans and his associates were continued, till the Revolution put a stop to all enterprises of this sort. A quantity of raw silk, produced by them, was sent over to England in 1772, which Dr. Franklin sold at a good price, and obtained a bounty on it from the British government. Some of the Company's silk was likewise manufactured in Pennsylvania. In his paper concerning a new settlement proposed to be made on the Ohio River, Dr. Franklin says; "Above ten thousand weight of cocoons was, in August, 1771, sold at the public filature in Philadelphia."